Disclaimer: I do not own Danmachi or anything created by the author Fujino Omori; all rights go to him. I only own my original characters Sleipnir, Ikuchi, Sylphie, and all the others.

Speech: Myles asks his Lenen Sidhe. "Why can Kiko use telepathy, isn't that something limited to messenger spirits?"

Thoughts: She drapes herself over his shoulders in a semi-solid state. 'Don't you know the axioms that bind spirit foxes, or as you know them kogitsune?'

Screaming/Demonic Voice: Myles retorts. "No, I wouldn't have asked otherwise. So what are they? Kiko has shattered a lot of my assumptions concerning tier 1 spirits."

Magic: She sighs almost deflating. "A blessing and a curse. All tricksters can make themselves partially tangible on Genkai as tier 1 spirits. However, kogitsune in particular have been cursed by the gods. All fox spirits are naturally mute.

Runes: Myles looks at Kiko in pity. 'This means every fox spirit is incapable of learning speech unless they are taught telepathy? Wouldn't that apply to Sly as well, being a half-kitsune and all?' - "Fuin!"

Writing: The leanen sidhe writes in runic. 'Not quite. Another path for kogitsune is evolution. Kitsune were the only fox spirits exempt from the curse due to the action of their patron deity. So fox spirits that do not take the path of messengers will seek the same blessing.'

Chapter 31 Untethered Vision

Night, 13th day - Floor 17 - Ikuchi POV

The battles on the Middle Floors continued well. With Sly's illusion hiding scent and vision, and Akiri joining the melee with his tails and claws Ikuchi could make even greater use of his cloak.

Every step created another splash and left behind a puddle. The water followed his claws and imbued them with greater force, and he found with his focus primarily on his attacks the water around his claws sharpened them the more mana he used. Monsters attracted by the noise he created would rush over, but they would only find him. Ikuchi relished the attention as he got to fight with his claws and teeth.

His next victims are a pack of hellhounds. They heard them, and rushed into the current room, only to freeze for a moment when they saw Ikuchi charging covered in his water cloak.

The pack leader was the fastest to recover with its flame breath, but it did little to stop Ikuchi. His scales were safe as the water grew warmer; it took far greater heat to cause him pain. Ikuchi used the pack leader's stationary position and pushed through the fire, bit his head, and with water-sharpened claws tore through its side.

The pack did not sit idle, some spewed forth fire, while the rest jumped at the dragon's sides. Ikuchi ignored them all, prioritising dealing with the pack leader.

Two hellhounds on his right flank clawed and bit into the water, but their paws slowed the farther into the water they pushed. They were barely scratching his scales with their probing attacks. Then Sly came from behind using his daggers to deal lethal blows to them and shouted something, likely to Akiri.

Crushing the throat of the leader, Ikuchi missed one daring hound circled around him, jumped on his back, and bit his wing. Although protected under a layer of water, his wings were still fragile. Sharp pain assaulted him as the hound got a grip of the membrane and tore it up with a fierce shake of its head. This quickly brought Ikuchi from his high, and with a gurgled snarl he glanced to his left. Seeing more hounds approaching, and having been pissed off over his wing, play time had come to an end.

Bracing his legs he rolled to the side, tucking the leg with his own pouch to his stomach, before shifting all his weight onto two more hellhounds turning them to dust. He then swiftly crushed the one on his back by rolling over and back onto his feet.

With almost half the pack routed, the rest grouped together only to stumble as Akiri makes his move. With a vice grip on three of their legs with his tails and biting a fourth, along with Sly attacking a fifth the tactic of regrouping was broken and made a disadvantage. With a silent roar Ikuchi charged them to vent his frustration.

Once the battle was over and Sly collected the spoils, including the piece of membrane from Ikuchi's wing, he heard Akiri's telepathy. 'Ikuchi-chan well done! Your water cloak works well, though it would have been better if you heeded Shin's warning. Additionally, maybe you should avoid crushing monsters next time.…'

The spirit focused on the bloodied section of his armour. "Hnn, I usually don't bother cleaning the water. Like wounds, it shows a recent victory and should be worn proudly!"

Akiri walks to his front paws, where the water turned red from the leader's blood. 'What about the blood? Aren't you breathing the water? How does that work?'

Here he has a lot to tell. "Well, it's too diluted for even my taste to sense anything beyond salt and I can't get enough of that. Gryuu once told me to eat lots of it along with minerals to strengthen my scales, but it's just too rare. Now that I think about it, it's strange. I tried eating monsters before, but they usually taste like ash besides the sweet crystals. I wouldn't recommend trying it, eating fish and nectar is much better."

As soon as his explanation finished he pulled the water cloak closer to him, increasing its density and pushing out all the stones his role collected. Even with all his practice and focus, it still took him almost a minute to push all the stones out. Sly meanwhile tries speaking to him for Akiri to relay it a moment later with telepathy. 'Shin-kun is also asking if you could speak once you have finished?'

Removing the water from his head and letting it fall into a puddle below him, Ikuchi listens. "So, what I wanted to ask is can't we extend the telepathy connection so all of us can speak to each other? If we fight irregular monsters, delays for warnings or commands would be dangerous."

Akiri shifts his tails in thought. 'It's not impossible, but I would need to include both of you in an oath. It would bind another part of your mana Shin-kun and some of yours too Ikuchi-chan.'

Sly waved his tails happily and then looked at him with a wary expression. "How much mana would it take?"

Sly chimes in. "For me it was around a tenth. Your mana capacity is only a little less than mine, so it should be around the same."

"Then what do I have to do?" Ikuchi pipes up.

'Agree to my terms. For tonight we shall forge a contract. As a messenger contracted to Shin, I am already bound to his service, so now I shall additionally work as the conduct of messages between you two, while you are in my presence. All three of us will funnel the mana for this endeavor and it will end once Shin and I leave the dungeon, or all of us agree to terminate the contract.'

Sly nods to the terms. "This is fair, I agree to these terms."

Ikuchi follows along. "Me too."

Sly's tail glows and a fraction of their mana assembles around their heads, before he clearly hears Sly's thoughts. 'Now this should work out perfectly.'

'Strange to hear you inside my head. Can you hear me SLY!?' Ikuchi returns, with more force than intended.

'Argh! Yes, I can hear you, please be more considerate. The more intent you throw into the message the more overwhelming it gets.'

Akiri snickers. 'Now you know how I feel when you scream commands mid-battle. Once you get used to it, you can finetune the messages you receive. Until then I'd recommend keeping the intent to send your thought to a minimum.'

Ikuchi returns. 'This is confusing, can we hide our thoughts, or do we just hear everything we think now?'

Akiri's response is instantaneous. 'No, only those you wish to share. Casual thoughts won't be affected, unless the recipient is overwhelmingly more skilled and knows how to take advantage of telepathy to slip into your mind.'

Now it's Sly's turn to turn pale. 'Wait! Does that mean you've seen all my thoughts since the Far East! All my secrets! My clan! Kami damn it!'

Ikuchi winces. 'Sly, be quiet! Why are you so loud!?'

Sly refocuses on him and challenges. 'Not now, I need to know what Akiri knows!'

Akiri shifts his tails playfully. 'A little?'

Ikuchi sees that Sly won't accept that answer. 'I need to stop them, or we won't get anywhere! We should push further, otherwise this is going to take forever!'

Sly retorts in a foul tone. 'I think you said more than you wanted, but Akiri, this isn't the last time we're having this discussion. Better believe it!'

Night, 13th day - Floor 17 - Sly POV

If he hadn't had to keep his thoughts under tight control, Sly would not have given up the discussion that easily. 'I'll need to change our contract at the next chance. How much does he know? And if he does who else knows? Take? Sylphie?'

His gaze shifts to Akiri, while he opens his helmet to keep his twitching ears focused on their surroundings. 'Not the best habit, but as long as I notice bad bats from far enough away even if it hurts, I can always cover them up again. Level 2 endurance comes in handy, even if my senses have only grown sharper to counteract the added protection again.

I wonder how Akiri manages to ignore their screams, technically his hearing should be even finer than mine. Does he jump to the Second Layer, use the controls I give him over my illusion to cancel the noise, or does it even matter?

How likely is it that he told anybody about my clan? The clan head, the Arashi Faction… My parents… How much do I trust him?'

His mood is volatile, calm, shifting to worry, to anger and resignation. Akiri does not meet his gaze for his entire inner dialogue. Mere seconds have passed since he started observing him, but it felt to Sly like an age when he gave his thoughts a little more intent. 'Even if he does know it all, he was there with Sadao. But does that entitle him to know?! No, it doesn't, and it shouldn't! Akiri if you are listening in, better keep quiet about that! I have put too much effort into creating my own family, for the past to get in the way of it. After all, it is Sadao's last wish, if not for me, at least to recognize his wish. He trusted you to be my guardian until his return, so if not for me at least keep my burdens for him.'

Finally, Akiri looked at him. However it took him ages to meet his eyes, only to look at him in confusion with tails in disarray and his muzzle strained in concentration. 'Shin-chan I didn't und-'

Just as Akiri was about to continue, a strange noise caught their attention. A hum, but far too high pitched to be generated naturally. 'What is that noise?'

Ikuchi turned to them in confusion. 'What noise?'

Sly strained his ears a little more. The sound was subtle, unnaturally so. But also, wasn't harsh or grating. No, it was soothing and gave him a warm fuzzy feeling. All his concerns grew smaller the more he focused. All other sounds faded away as his ears strained. It called to him.

Immediately he began to walk forward. His pace quickly increased, needing to find the source of this wonderful sound. How couldn't he? The closer and closer his feet brought him the more at peace he felt and the stronger the warm feeling in his chest felt. His mind already knew the route, calculating the origin of the velvety melody. His own map for floor 17 was half finished, but the guild one was still fresh in his mind.

Akiri was following hot on Sly's heels. Sly noted idly that he seemed to be yelling at him, probably to stop. That wouldn't do though, he had to reach the source! His pace increased again, breaking out into a sprint. In The next room, a wyvern was present appearing to be in some sort of trance looking in the direction of the melodious sounds. It was an obstacle.

"Out of my way!"

Without losing an iota of speed, Sly leapt into the air and impaled the entranced wyvern through its back and torso. A loud cracking noise indicated the magic stone being shattered as he vaulted over the ashy remains of the wyvern and continued fervently forward. Dead, alive, it didn't matter. A strange pressure pushed against his focus, but he ignored it; it just wasn't important now.

Before them a wall of stone stands, but the ceiling reveals a hole up to the 16th floor. Climbing wasn't his greatest strength, but he would manage. A rarely used kunai and rope arc up into the hole to serve as anchor and leverage for the ascent. Scaling the hole in this manner was easy; throw another anchor, pull the previous one up, ascend, and repeat.

Halfway up the wall an even larger tunnel bore deeper into the 17th floor. It had signs of a cave-in, but the invigorating melody grew even louder. The lullaby-like chorus was reminiscent of long forgotten pieces from his childhood.

'Fluffy comfort of sky blue furred tails wrapped about me while I lay in bed briefly fills my senses.'

This time the pressure against his focus was greater. The mental shove almost knocked him over. 'Snap out of it!'

However, his tails grabbed hold of the surrounding stones, kept him standing as he stumbled into the loose tunnel. The melody was far clearer now and its velvety echoes continued to fill his ears.

A faint whisper escapes his lips. "Okasan…"

Night, 13th day - Floor 17 - Ikuchi POV

Ikuchi turned to them in confusion. 'What noise?'

In front of his mana vision, he clearly saw how both their ears twitched towards a path in tandem with faint ripples in the dungeon mana. Not stopping, Sly also changed his course, instantly walking towards the ripples.

Not getting an answer to his previous question, Ikuchi debates if he should take off his cloak, however with Sly already walking at a brisk pace, that would only delay them. 'What does it matter, perhaps we can find another irregular monster!' Grinning, showing far too many teeth, he followed after them in his cloak.

Only in the next room did Sly accelerate a little too much, bordering on recklessness. He was no longer keeping quiet, and then he called out. "Out of my way!"

He blitzed a distracted wyvern with a precise strike and kept on running forwards. Now this wasn't normal at all. 'Sly! By the mother wait up!'

He wasn't reacting and Akiri was only a few steps ahead of him. If this continued, they would leave him behind, he was too slow with his cloak. 'Akiri wait up!'

The spirit slowed his steps, but he continued forward since Sly was already running into the next room. 'They spoke of sound, so something is luring them? There shouldn't be a monster up here that can do that?!'

Ikuchi accelerated as well, getting speed, to catch up to Akiri, and as soon as he got close enough, he pulled some of the water of his cloak away, formed it into a net, and threw it at him. Akiri ignored his action, and was soon caught in his net, Ikuchi quickly spent a lot of his mana to resist the stronger spirit and keep the net stable. 'This isn't working…'

Akiri struggled more, and his water net tore, leaving a wet fox surrounded by floating water. 'Wait, why should I catch him? I have something better!' Changing the control exercise he used, the water around Akiri, quickly flew towards him.

'Ha, why should I bother making a net when I can just have it attracted to him!' The move worked, and Akiri shook himself in pure panic, tried breathing and drew in water. Ikuchi quickly freed Akiri's muzzle but kept the rest of him covered, straining his water control to the limit.

Still coughing heavily, but with air returning to his lungs. Akiri looked at him in confusion, before Sly's strange behaviour registered to him. 'This is bad. Ikuchi! Something tried charming us. We need to catch up to Shin!' With a big leap, the water cloaked fox landed on his back. 'After him! I'll take a shortcut thorough the Second Layer.'

He rushed further, after Sly attempting to catch him with telepathy before Akiri's weight disappeared from his back.

1 km away from Ikuchi, Floor 17 - Ray POV

A beautiful song resounded, if you were one of the few capable of hearing it, from a large room filled with blue bedrock walls. The waves met the walls and filled the 30 m radius with ease, meeting crystalline stalactites on the ceiling and bouncing back towards our lovely songstress.

She however, would love to disagree. Ray really hated her luck today. Why you ask? She had used her sirens song to attract and charm creatures that could hear her, all with the goal of attracting Ikuchi. She had commanded. "Come to me!" Well, now she had a problem. To attract only Ikuchi and avoid the brutes of these floors she sang at a very high pitch, which is well above what humans can hear.

This would also limit what monsters could hear her song. She anticipated bad bats, ligerfangs, possibly a pack of hellhounds. However, what she didn't expect was an entire adventurer party, first and foremost among them was a werewolf who heard her song and fell for her charm.

The entranced werewolf stumbled into the room first, followed by a swarm of bad bats and lastly his party. Their ranger wasted no time and fired at her.

Ray swung her wing and released one of her yellow tipped feathers. With a clang they collided and fell to the floor.

'This will be annoying. If I stop my song all the monsters that have heard it will turn hostile and turn this room into a large free for all, and if I continue, I'll be severely limited in what I can do without interrupting my song… Seems like Fear will have to help me after all.'

She turned her focus on the bats and werewolf giving both a command in her song. "Attack." She'd need to make do with simple commands with these many charmed creatures.

The werewolf turned around and jumped at the scared human in the lead. His swipe caught him off guard and landed an attack.

'Good, they are distracted.' Without turning around, she changed the lyrics of her song a little without affecting her spell. "Fear. Can you protect me?"

"Do I have to?" Ray almost overheard the barely audible answer.

"Yes." When she didn't get another answer Ray added in a softer melody. "You don't have to kill them. Distract them and the monsters will do the rest."

The younger harpy let go of the ceiling with gritted teeth and released a rain of feathers at the three adventurers but threw none at the charmed one.

Ray would have cursed, if she hadn't already strained her song to the limit with the previous conversation.

The party of 3 retreated further with her sister added to the battle. The bad bats were swarming them repeatedly, but besides their occasional screams and bites no serious injury followed.

The ranger and mage were the farthest away, already with their backs to the wall, as the mage summoned an angry red magic circle.

Fear was too inexperienced to read the signs, and kept harassing the scarred axe fighter, who was attempting to subdue their werewolf companion.

'Sigh, I have to do everything myself.' Interrupting mages was one of her core duties, when they encountered adventurers. Very few Xenos knew enough about magic to tell what spells were going to do and she'd seen enough large area attack magic to risk it.

Lowering the pitch of her song, the mages eyes quickly grew dull and even both his companions staggered. Their change in tempo allowed quite a few of her sister's feathers to strike the warrior, but both him and the ranger resisted quickly. 'Of course they'd have Abnormal Resistance. Better deal with them quickly, with this pitch it's only a matter of time before those brutes appear.'

With another command. "Attack." The mage also attacked the ranger with a clumsy swipe of his staff. Not as effective as she'd have liked, but at the very least there was no more risk of large scale magic. Not only that, but now the ranger had to protect both himself and the mage from the bats she controlled.

Finally happy, with no more arrows interrupting her, Ray turned to Fear. Her harpy sister was jumping further away from the axe wielder.

Once airborne Fear flapped her wings quickly and threw out dozens of feathers in a sprayshot. The warrior reacted, by taking a step back and using the flat of his axe as a substitute shield.

Fear breathed a sigh of relief and landed on a crystal 20 m farther away when the werewolf jumped his teammate with his clawed gauntlets crashing against the warrior's armour.

Both tumbled a few steps back as the werewolf continued his blind assault. Each clash of armour and claws created sparks, however, the warrior let himself be pushed back further.

He used the handle of his axe to lock his teammates claws, before raising it with one hand and delivering a jarring uppercut with his fist.

The werewolf fell back and did not stand back up; the blow had induced unconsciousness. This exchange took a few seconds and Ray didn't waste the opportunity. As soon as the two separated she threw out her own attack.

Two precise feathers flew, one barely missing the head of the charmed werewolf, but instead cutting his ear and the second striking true.

The adventurer grunted and staggered a step back in pain. Her feather had struck true and hit his left eye. His right fluttering about until settling on her in fury. With a loud roar he screamed, "Damn monster! Lann get the others out of here, I'll hold them off. Don't lose sight of the siren!"

The ranger replied. "Understood. Bors-san be careful, William is doing his thing!"

Instead of charging blindly Bors stepped in front of the werewolf and kept his eye trained on her and continued to block every one of her feathers. He completely ignored her sister and the bats!

'How annoying, he sees me as the biggest threat and is taking attacks from both Fear and the bad bats to buy time.'

In the back she saw how the mage had once more summoned a magic circle. The ranger had somehow freed him from her charm. 'It doesn't matter, I still have more monsters!'

With another command. "Stop the mage!", a pack of hellhounds, rushed from the corridor behind the mage. William was cackling like mad and chanting. "Searing flames, rise forth from the earth, by Sutr the king of fire bring forth destruction! - Flame Pillar!"

A searing column of fire rose beneath the feet of the hellhound pack leader, before rising 5 m into the air. The fire burned half the pack, before the mage made a wide gestures with his arms towards the column and it rushed forth burning the remaining pack, who due to her charm charged blindly.

Lann the ranger had by now gotten to the werewolf and Bors had used her momentary distraction to rip out the arrow in his eye and throw a deep crimson healing potion over the injury.

Now he was charging Fear, keeping his good eye on her, while he used his axe to push through her feathers. Screaming like a madman. "ARGH!"

Meanwhile, the mage had gesticulated at her and the fire column was charging towards her at breakneck speed!

When Ray was about to dodge another variable arrived on the battlefield. A blue-clad figure jumped from one of the side passages and landed in front of her interposing themself between her and the raging pillar of fire.

As the flame pillar rushed them, a silver tail came from this figure's robe, and immediately pushed against the pillar! 'What the?!' To add to her confusion the pyromancer recoiled and coughed up blood as his hands glowed red. 'Ignis Fatuus!' Meanwhile, the flame pillar condensed into a small white sphere of fire floating just above the newcomer's tail.

He looked at her and she first saw silver fox ears, unprotected by an opened helmet, before slitted teal eyes caught her attention. The magic they gave off felt dangerous, but they were vacant indicating that they were like any other charmed adventurer she caught.

Bors struck Fear, again and cut one of her wings. "Argh!" In a panic, she jumped high and held on to one of the stalactites, well out of range of the fighter.

Now the focus of everyone was on the new figure. Bors retreated back to his party. "Lann, get our friends outa here. I'll free this guy; this siren is too much!"

'So, it has come to this... Fine, let's see what this one can do! His mana feels stronger than the pyromancer.' With that Bors rushed both her and the new adventurer. She focused her song on him, trying to squeeze out as much fighting prowess as she could. He turned around and faced Bors for her, but in stark contrast to her expectation he didn't take out his spear-thing, but instead took a simple shoulder-wide stance.

Bors used a heavy swing with the flat end of his axe, but her new guard took a step back dodging the strike before lunging into Bors's stance slamming a fist into his exposed torso from the attack.

With a loud cough Bors took a few steps back and saw the face of her guard. "Hey, isn't that The Sly Blue?! To think a novice level 2 mage could hit that hard! Fine then no more handholding! I'm taking you with me Blue!"

Using full force Bors attacked with a quick horizontal strike and Blue ducked beneath it. However, his naginata caught the axe and threw him away ripping the weapon from his right arm. A loud cracking noise hinted that his shoulder was dislocated or possibly cracked.

This didn't stop him, the moment he touched the floor he rolled with the momentum, but the naginata stuck far away from him as Bors charged forward again.

Ray couldn't stand it anymore and she sang, in a pitch the adventurer wouldn't hear. "Go all out and use your strongest magic!"

Blue took several steps back and outstretched his arms before looking at Bors as he began humming to her melody. Suddenly a faint hissing noise filled the area as two more tails revealed themselves while Ray felt some sort of magic lift.

Blue jumped back, his humming turning into a few words. "Darkest hour, pendulum-" Bors followed, however, her feathers slowed his pursuit. Every block gave Blue another moment to chant. When Bors came too close he used his tails to fall back and cartwheel around him. "- Your futile struggle only hastens the process.-"

The adventurer's eyes widened as the mage continued. 'Concurrent Casting?!'

The mana of the mother on the other hand went berserk as swaths of it rushed towards Blue for every moment the very long hummed chant continued, every tail glowing like teal light quartz. The chanting ended as Blue stopped and raised both hands to the ceiling. "I am the Prophet, fallen symbol of the last age. - Amanojaku!"

From his back, a fourth teal tail condensed accompanying the other three his eyes empty but focused on Bors. Ray pushed him further. "Attack him and defend both me and Fear!"

With her charm focused solely on him, Blue rushed forth. His speed almost doubled to her horror. Blue was almost as fast as her!

Bors didn't anticipate this and Blue dodged around a quick strike, before punishing Bors with an uppercut leading into a turn and four additional slams from his tails.

The moment Bors was back on his feet he used both hands to rapidly strike at Blue, however, every attack was dodged the moment it began. Bors went for a vertical strike only for Sly to step to the side. Diagonal, and the same happened but he ducked as well, always only a few hairs away from the axe.

When the attacks trapped him and dodging wasn't possible his good hand or one of his tails would hit the axe shaft, shifting the strike just out of harm's way.

'This is going almost too well. Though it's strange somebody with such potent magic is alone on this floor? Also, why is there a renard with multiple tails here…'

During her musings, Lann had brought the first party out of the room and sneaked back in. The only indicator she got was the sudden whizz of an arrow from her back.

She wasn't the only one who heard, Blue noticed as well and the flame sphere behind him shot out and met the arrow midway, burning the wood away and growing larger the closer it got to Lann.

The ranger dodged away and fired a second arrow.

Ray saw his target and immediately called out to her sister. "Fear, dodge!"

She was too far away to stop the arrow with her feathers when Blue pushed Bors away and jumped in between the arrow and panic-driven Fear, who still clung to a stalactite. The moment the arrow came close to Blue his good hand caught it.

A few seconds later he landed on the opposite side of the room and both Bors and Lann had taken the chance to retreat.

Ray surveyed the room and planned what to do next but kept a tight hold on Blue. "Fear we need to get away from here. Many monsters are bound to have heard my song, it's only a matter of time until they come."

Fear let herself fall and winced when she landed. Her left wing was almost cut in half. "What about Ikuchi? And the adven… tur…" She looked Blue in the eyes and instinctively took multiple steps back. "Ray isn't that..!?"

A roar came from one of the passages into their room. Afterwards, monsters swarmed from all three entrances. Among them a minotaur, two ligerfangs and a large pack of hellhounds. Some black hellhounds even spawned from the dungeon walls!

"Fear that can wait we have to get out of here!" Just as she was about to retreat another roar came from above. As she heard it, she felt a sense of deja-vu! She'd heard that before only much higher pitched.

The next moment she felt a second explosion of mana, not any inferior to Blue's. Then a large wave of water crashed into the room. It whelmed all the monsters, but barely avoided her, Fear, and Blue. A second later a devastating lightning strike lit up the room and revealed an almost 4-meter-long dragon on the ceiling.

The next moment the mana in the room pulsed and her connection to Blue was torn apart. When she looked over, she saw a black fox next to Blue. 'Well, that could have worked better. At the very least we found Ikuchi.'

A few minutes later - Bors POV

"Fuck! What the hell was that!? I didn't even get to fight and almost lost an ear!" Fritz the werewolf complained.

Bors, who had remained stoically quiet until now, answered in anger. "Have you lost an eye to this irregular Fritz!? Didn't think so! We need to inform the guild and find a way to free Blue! That mage is an outright terror to fight in close range!"

Lann spoke up. "Then let's go to the surface. We are in no condition to get around the Goliath."

William forced himself to stand; even after drinking a health potion, he felt terrible. "Fine, but don't expect more fire from me. It will take days to recover from that Ignis Faatus! Stupid sirens! I couldn't even drink a potion until we got away from them!"

Bors nodded and the party began their ascent. 'And I will inform an Eye of Lelantus of those monsters and Blue. This is beyond simple irregulars!'

While Sly fights Bors - ? - Cassandra POV

Feeling a chill, Cassandra opens her eyes and looks around. A voice resonates.

"A long chamber with looming crystalline walls appears."

A lone figure huddled in a blue cloak with a glowing teal aura stands in the center. The only part of its face she sees is unfocused teal glowing eyes with a black slit. She takes a step, but the air repels her. No, not air, but instead the mana pressure seeping from the figure in the middle. Before she can think more the figure speaks.

"A repeating Tragedy cometh. Do not approach Blue, for he is the source of this ruin."

Cassandra panics. 'No, I can't watch this again! Wait, I am conscious. I can stop it I must!'

"See disaster manifest. Flashes of a bladed staff sever bonds, faces of trusted and dear companions are rended from Genkai. Crimson life essence strewn across walls and floors of the Mother."

Cassandra tries to get closer to stop the massacre, but the teal aura flares in intensity as mana pressure shackles her.

"Cast to the floor in two, Phoebus Apollo lies there. His horrified expression, blood leaking from his mouth, is all one needs to know a simple fact. Actions have consequences."

Cassandra tries harder and takes one step towards the robed figure.

"A friend of yellow eyes and red hair rests against a wall. Guts and crimson laid out about her describe the end of her story, but now she is free."

The figure removes the hood to reveal their fox ears, but their gaze is vacant. Tears roll down Cassandra's cheeks, but she can't stop. This time. This time she could stop coming despair!

"Do not touch him, for he is the prophet of death and rebirth. The apostles of the Sun cannot contain the wrath of sky fur, ruler of nine tails."

Nine swaying silver tails rise reaching to the ceiling and filling her sight. But she perseveres and takes two more steps, pushing against the tide.

"A black cat of sharp fangs and claws lies motionless on the ground; the vanguard of dawn was eclipsed. A dark consort of the Sun has its arms stripped; she will draw no longer."

…

Cassandra's steps stop. 'No! It happened again! Why can't I stop this!? Not even knowing it will happen helps! No matter what I do the visions happen, not even consciousness helps! I am useless!'

…

Cassandra looks over to the renard, she is still in the vision. 'Why am I still here? I've seen it, if he is crossed only despair follows.'

The figure continued.

"The origin of this calamity is from the fate of the dark half-fairy; he was a sworn student of Justice, Gluttony, and Silence. A red dawn rises on the 6th day from his passing; sky fur's mentor is ripped away by the world for a fourth time."

She takes a sharp breath, steeling herself. 'No, this isn't like other times, it continues! There is still a way!'

"A figure hidden by shadows in a moss cloak follows the Take Familia into the depths of the Mother. Pendants of a sword of justice shrouded in righteous wings, a spear ensorcelled by thunderbolts, and a crown resting top the head of an empress with flowers and a royal's mace in hand rest at his waist."

The figure felt familiar, but she wasn't sure why.

"His passing buries a legacy left by the strongest of the past generation and the hope of Genkai's success in the future. The smiling skull of a wolf with goat horns observing with red irises and the pleased gaze of an eye flying by wings paints the future for The Promised Time."

"The black cat of sharp fangs and claws bares his arms in a crystal maze. Restraint of this feline averts the passing, only flames pass through his claws."

"So, there is a way!" Cassandra screams as she pushes through the mana pressure with renewed vigor.

"Here, on the 5th Day of Collection, Pánthiras tis Avgís earns his chance for redemption from a victim of the Empire and averts Tragedy."

The words reverberate through the room, just as Cassandra manages to reach the figure. Her hand barely touches his arm. The piercing teal eyes of the kitsune land on her, as the 9 tails dissipate and leave behind 3 silver tails along with a single flickering teal tail. "Can you find the correct path young Seer, or shall your familia's hubris call forth a cataclysmic downfall?"

Immediately Cassandra gasps out as she jolts awake in her bed, drenched in sweat, and eyes wide. A few shake breaths steady her as she holds herself.

…

"Can I… really make a difference…?" she murmurs.

Author's Note

With a full new chapter, I want to thank LazyHapa for helping me out as much as he did. It has already been a full year since he joined this adventure. I'll also thank all the people who wrote Reviews or Comments. I always enjoy exchanging ideas and delving into different perspectives of this story, so if any of you have great ideas I'd appreciate it if you could share them.

On another note, I also wanted to remind everyone that I added a new Prologue as a chapter 0. I have been unhappy with the beginning of the story for a while and did a slight rework for the first few chapters as well. I'd recommend giving the Prologue a read, it's only 2k words.